The Thin Blue Line

0:00:03 > 0:00:10This film contains some strong language.

0:01:23 > 0:01:26In October, my brother and I left Ohio.

0:01:26 > 0:01:29We were driving to California.

0:01:29 > 0:01:31We got into Dallas on a Thursday night.

0:01:31 > 0:01:35Friday morning, while I'm eating eggs and drinking coffee,

0:01:35 > 0:01:37I get a good job. I mean, it's...

0:01:37 > 0:01:41All these people are supposedly out of work.

0:01:41 > 0:01:44I'm not in town a half a day, and I've got a job.

0:01:44 > 0:01:46Just everything clicked.

0:01:46 > 0:01:48It's as if I was meant to be here.

0:01:53 > 0:01:59I'd run away from home a couple of times. Once or twice. I don't know.

0:01:59 > 0:02:03And this all started, David is running away from home.

0:02:03 > 0:02:06And he takes... I took a pistol of my dad's and a shotgun.

0:02:07 > 0:02:09Took a neighbour's car.

0:02:09 > 0:02:12I had broken into their house and got the keys to it.

0:02:12 > 0:02:15I forget exactly what it was.

0:02:20 > 0:02:23Ended up coming to Dallas.

0:02:30 > 0:02:33I went to work and no-one showed up.

0:02:33 > 0:02:36Being a weekend, sometimes they worked, sometimes they didn't.

0:02:36 > 0:02:40On the way home, I ran out of gas.

0:02:40 > 0:02:42And as I was walking down the street with the gas can...

0:02:44 > 0:02:47..a person, at that time, pulled over.

0:02:47 > 0:02:49I guess, since I had the gas can,

0:02:49 > 0:02:53he figured I was out of gas. I wasn't 100 yards from the car.

0:02:53 > 0:02:57And being Thanksgiving weekend, there was no gas stations open.

0:02:57 > 0:02:59So he stopped and asked me if I needed any help.

0:03:02 > 0:03:06I'm driving down some street somewhere in Dallas.

0:03:06 > 0:03:08I'd just turned 16.

0:03:10 > 0:03:13And there was a guy over there, I think he'd run out of gas.

0:03:13 > 0:03:15I took him to get some gas.

0:03:15 > 0:03:17This was Randall Adams.

0:03:21 > 0:03:23Ended up following him to his room

0:03:23 > 0:03:25where him and his brother were staying.

0:03:25 > 0:03:28Eventually, that evening...

0:03:28 > 0:03:32we went out and got some beer and what have you,

0:03:32 > 0:03:35and we smoked a little marijuana and what have you.

0:03:35 > 0:03:37Went to a movie that night.

0:03:41 > 0:03:43I get up, I go to work on Saturday.

0:03:43 > 0:03:46Why did I meet this kid? I don't know.

0:03:46 > 0:03:49Why did I run out of gas at that time? I don't know. But it happened.

0:03:49 > 0:03:50It happened.

0:04:35 > 0:04:38SQUEALING TYRES

0:04:42 > 0:04:44GUNSHOTS

0:05:31 > 0:05:34The day they picked me up, December 21st.

0:05:36 > 0:05:39They took me upstairs. What floor, I don't know.

0:05:39 > 0:05:41But they put me in a little room.

0:05:44 > 0:05:45Gus Rose walked in.

0:05:49 > 0:05:52He had a confession there he wanted me to sign.

0:05:54 > 0:05:57He...said that I would sign it.

0:05:57 > 0:05:59He didn't give a damn what I said.

0:05:59 > 0:06:03I would sign this piece of paper he's got.

0:06:03 > 0:06:05I told him I couldn't.

0:06:08 > 0:06:12"I don't know what the hell you people expect of me.

0:06:12 > 0:06:14"But there's no way I can sign that."

0:06:15 > 0:06:18He left. He came back in ten minutes....

0:06:18 > 0:06:20and threw a pistol on the table.

0:06:22 > 0:06:26Asked me to look at it. Which I did. I looked.

0:06:26 > 0:06:30He asked me to pick it up.

0:06:30 > 0:06:33I told him no, I wouldn't do that.

0:06:34 > 0:06:36He threatened me.

0:06:36 > 0:06:38Again, I told him no.

0:06:38 > 0:06:41He pulled his service revolver on me.

0:06:43 > 0:06:48We looked at each other for... to me, it seemed hours.

0:06:50 > 0:06:52I do not like looking down the barrel of a pistol.

0:06:52 > 0:06:54I do not like being threatened.

0:06:56 > 0:07:00When he finally saw that he would either have to kill me...

0:07:00 > 0:07:02or forget the signature,

0:07:02 > 0:07:05I guess he forgot the signature, because he put his pistol up.

0:07:05 > 0:07:11He took the pistol on the table, put it up and stormed out.

0:07:11 > 0:07:15I had what I call a casual, friendly conversation with him to start with.

0:07:15 > 0:07:20To try to size him up, to see what he liked and what he didn't like.

0:07:22 > 0:07:26I found almost immediately that he didn't have much conscience.

0:07:26 > 0:07:30Anything he had done, it never really bothered him.

0:07:30 > 0:07:32He had done other things that he told me about,

0:07:32 > 0:07:35that didn't seem to bother him in the least.

0:07:35 > 0:07:38He showed no expression whatsoever.

0:07:39 > 0:07:41It's just like he's sitting here,

0:07:41 > 0:07:43talking about the colour of this wall,

0:07:43 > 0:07:46or the shooting of the police officer.

0:07:46 > 0:07:48He showed no...

0:07:49 > 0:07:52..no reaction to any of the questions.

0:07:52 > 0:07:54He, of course...

0:07:56 > 0:07:58..almost overacted his innocence.

0:07:58 > 0:08:01He protested that he hadn't done anything.

0:08:01 > 0:08:05Couldn't imagine why we were bringing him in.

0:08:06 > 0:08:08He didn't fight or he didn't resist,

0:08:08 > 0:08:11he just protested his innocence.

0:08:11 > 0:08:14I, of course, told them what happened that Saturday,

0:08:14 > 0:08:16that I had met this kid.

0:08:16 > 0:08:19I kept telling them the same thing, the same thing, the same thing,

0:08:19 > 0:08:23they didn't want to believe me.

0:08:23 > 0:08:26Never once was I allowed a phone call.

0:08:26 > 0:08:28Never once was an attorney there.

0:08:28 > 0:08:30I don't know how long this had been.

0:08:31 > 0:08:36I had smoked two packs of cigarettes and had been out for a long time.

0:08:51 > 0:08:54Woods didn't take his ticket book out of the car.

0:08:54 > 0:08:57He left it in the car, on the front seat,

0:08:57 > 0:09:00which indicates that he was not going to write a ticket.

0:09:00 > 0:09:03What he was probably going to do was have them turn on the headlights.

0:09:03 > 0:09:07He didn't know that the car was stolen.

0:09:07 > 0:09:10I think that there's a very good chance

0:09:10 > 0:09:13that he was going to check the driver's licence,

0:09:13 > 0:09:16and tell him to turn on his headlights, and let the guy be on his way.

0:09:16 > 0:09:21Officer Woods' wife had purchased him a bulletproof vest,

0:09:21 > 0:09:23and had it under the Christmas tree.

0:09:23 > 0:09:27Or had it stored away, to give to him at Christmas time.

0:09:29 > 0:09:32His partner was one of the first female police officers

0:09:32 > 0:09:33that was assigned to patrol.

0:09:33 > 0:09:36They were from the Northwest Station.

0:09:36 > 0:09:38just patrol officers following the clock,

0:09:38 > 0:09:40working the graveyard shift and everything.

0:09:40 > 0:09:45They had been into a fast-food restaurant. And she had a malt.

0:09:45 > 0:09:49This car came by, these two dudes in it, with no lights on.

0:09:59 > 0:10:04It wasn't a serious problem, but he just pulled up, turned his lights on to stop him.

0:10:04 > 0:10:08Just to warn the man that his lights were off.

0:10:18 > 0:10:20Got out of the car and walked up,

0:10:20 > 0:10:23and before he got to the window, where the driver was -

0:10:23 > 0:10:25he was in the right position -

0:10:25 > 0:10:30This man just turned around and just - pop, pop, pop, with a little small-calibre pistol.

0:10:36 > 0:10:40The first shot hit him in the arm. He had his flashlight.

0:10:40 > 0:10:42He hit the flashlight and went into his arm.

0:10:42 > 0:10:44The next one hit him right in the chest.

0:10:52 > 0:10:56The officer falls in the street and he was in the first traffic lane.

0:10:56 > 0:10:58He lay there and bled to death.

0:10:58 > 0:11:00- TYRES SQUEAL - So she's out of the car,

0:11:00 > 0:11:03she empties her pistol at the fleeing suspect,

0:11:03 > 0:11:06and she runs to his aid.

0:11:08 > 0:11:11Procedure says you grab the radio and call for an ambulance.

0:11:11 > 0:11:15Common sense would tell you that. But what do you do?

0:11:15 > 0:11:18And that time, she's so... Just tore down.

0:11:19 > 0:11:22Blood, an enormous amount of blood.

0:11:26 > 0:11:29I don't know. How do we hold her responsible

0:11:29 > 0:11:31for not following procedure at that point?

0:11:34 > 0:11:38But the main thing was, she couldn't remember the licence number.

0:11:53 > 0:11:58When we started putting facts together on how much information we had,

0:11:58 > 0:12:03from the leads we had, we found out we didn't have anything.

0:12:03 > 0:12:08The only thing that we knew we were looking for was a blue Vega.

0:12:08 > 0:12:12Probably every Vega that was registered in the state of Texas

0:12:12 > 0:12:13was stopped and checked.

0:12:15 > 0:12:18We had people calling the office,

0:12:18 > 0:12:21saying, "I've got a Vega and it's not blue.

0:12:21 > 0:12:24"But would you come out and be sure to check it over,

0:12:24 > 0:12:28"be sure it's not mine, because I don't want to get stopped any more. I'm afraid."

0:12:33 > 0:12:36If you're the investigator assigned to the murder,

0:12:36 > 0:12:38you get frustrated with other witnesses.

0:12:38 > 0:12:41But when you got a police officer that witnessed it,

0:12:41 > 0:12:45you expect that they would know a little more than she knew.

0:12:46 > 0:12:49Procedure... When there's a two-person unit,

0:12:49 > 0:12:51when either one approaches the car,

0:12:51 > 0:12:53the other positions himself to the right rear,

0:12:53 > 0:12:56where they can watch all the activity in the car.

0:12:56 > 0:12:59And if the man on the left of the driver gets in trouble,

0:12:59 > 0:13:02their partner is in a position to help.

0:13:04 > 0:13:10Speculation was, at the time, that his partner was sitting in the car.

0:13:14 > 0:13:19GUNSHOTS

0:13:30 > 0:13:33That's where the discrepancies were.

0:13:33 > 0:13:37Just a matter of time, and whether or not she was out of the car.

0:13:37 > 0:13:40Completely out of the car, or partially in the car,

0:13:40 > 0:13:43or just sitting in there with the door closed.

0:13:44 > 0:13:48And the thing I think we did then that really helped...

0:13:48 > 0:13:52It didn't really help anything at all. Let me back up.

0:13:52 > 0:13:55But it was interesting, and it cost a lot of money,

0:13:55 > 0:13:57but it was worthwhile. You got to cover every trail.

0:14:15 > 0:14:18A guy out of California,

0:14:18 > 0:14:21I don't recall his name, he was an expert in hypnosis.

0:14:21 > 0:14:23He came down, hypnotised her and questioned her.

0:14:23 > 0:14:27The interesting thing was, she couldn't remember anything about the car.

0:14:27 > 0:14:30She remembered getting a malt. They'd stopped for fast-food.

0:14:30 > 0:14:33It was a Whataburger. Remembered all that, and stopping the car.

0:14:33 > 0:14:36Got back on the road. She didn't remember anything.

0:14:36 > 0:14:39But she remembered a licence number off a hit-and-run vehicle

0:14:39 > 0:14:42that they had worked earlier in the night.

0:15:07 > 0:15:09It was getting awfully close to Christmas.

0:15:09 > 0:15:13We'd never gone that long in Dallas without clearing a murder of an officer.

0:15:13 > 0:15:16We'd had several killed, but we'd cleared them pretty quick.

0:15:16 > 0:15:19And this case had gone a month, or nearly a month,

0:15:19 > 0:15:21and we still hadn't cleared it.

0:15:21 > 0:15:23However, we finally got the break that cleared it.

0:15:23 > 0:15:25It came out of Vidor, Texas.

0:15:29 > 0:15:33Mr Calvin Cunningham, who lives in Vidor, had his home broken into,

0:15:33 > 0:15:37and his little Mercury Comet stolen.

0:15:37 > 0:15:40We felt as though David had committed that crime.

0:15:40 > 0:15:45For several days, though, he was missing. We couldn't find him.

0:15:45 > 0:15:46It was one afternoon,

0:15:46 > 0:15:48one of our officers spotted Mr Cunningham's car

0:15:48 > 0:15:51on North Main Street, here in Vidor.

0:15:51 > 0:15:54David abandoned the vehicle and ran on foot.

0:15:57 > 0:16:00We started getting little bits of information, though,

0:16:00 > 0:16:02that David had been involved in a shooting in Dallas

0:16:02 > 0:16:03of a police officer.

0:16:03 > 0:16:07We would always get third-hand rumour, fourth-hand rumour.

0:16:08 > 0:16:12So we went back to a few of his other comrades in crime,

0:16:12 > 0:16:13I guess we could call them.

0:16:13 > 0:16:16They said, "Yeah, we thought he was just bragging.

0:16:16 > 0:16:18"We didn't really take him seriously."

0:16:18 > 0:16:21Sitting down, watching the evening news, well, the night news.

0:16:21 > 0:16:23My father was asleep on the couch.

0:16:23 > 0:16:27Heard somebody knocking at the door. It was David Harris.

0:16:27 > 0:16:29I let him in. He came in.

0:16:29 > 0:16:31He was standing there beside the chair I was sitting in,

0:16:31 > 0:16:34and a news broadcast advertised about

0:16:34 > 0:16:36a police officer being shot in Dallas.

0:16:36 > 0:16:39Right then and there, he starts swearing up and down.

0:16:39 > 0:16:42He says, "I swear to God, I shot that fucking pig."

0:16:42 > 0:16:45He says, "I'm the one that killed him."

0:16:45 > 0:16:48Somewhere around Dallas, they got pulled over.

0:16:48 > 0:16:51I think he said because they were checking out a stolen car.

0:16:51 > 0:16:55He said that the cop had pulled him over,

0:16:55 > 0:16:56and walked up to the window.

0:16:56 > 0:16:59When the cop came, he rolled down the window,

0:16:59 > 0:17:01and just pulled the gun up, and "pow" shot him.

0:17:01 > 0:17:03He swore up and down.

0:17:03 > 0:17:06I mean, he made a big scene about it. Jumped up and down,

0:17:06 > 0:17:09trying to get anybody and everybody to listen to him.

0:17:09 > 0:17:11"Yeah, I shot that son of a gun."

0:17:11 > 0:17:14And everybody said, "Sure you did, David(!) Sure."

0:17:14 > 0:17:17"I swear to God, I killed that cop."

0:17:17 > 0:17:22I asked him if he'd been to Dallas. He denied having been to Dallas.

0:17:22 > 0:17:24I asked him if he'd been involved in any shooting,

0:17:24 > 0:17:28or knew anything about a shooting, and he denied that to the end,

0:17:28 > 0:17:30which is fairly consistent with David.

0:17:30 > 0:17:32Even if he had some involvement,

0:17:32 > 0:17:36his first way that he always treats you, he would deny.

0:17:36 > 0:17:39Then, if he felt as though you really knew he had done it,

0:17:39 > 0:17:41then he would be truthful with you.

0:17:41 > 0:17:44He give me a pistol, a .22 calibre pistol.

0:17:44 > 0:17:45He showed it to me. He says,

0:17:45 > 0:17:49"That's the one I shot him with, right here."

0:17:49 > 0:17:50He gave me the pistol.

0:17:50 > 0:17:54I didn't... I didn't really consider it that much.

0:17:54 > 0:17:58I don't guess I really realised he did shoot the cop.

0:17:58 > 0:18:00He led me to a swampy area

0:18:00 > 0:18:03several hundred yards behind his residence in Rose City.

0:18:03 > 0:18:06There was a sock under water. He said. "There it is."

0:18:06 > 0:18:10And he had sprayed this sock with boot oil.

0:18:10 > 0:18:11When we retrieved the gun,

0:18:11 > 0:18:15I said, "I better do something with it. It's going to rust up."

0:18:15 > 0:18:19Even the time that I saw the gun at the trial in Dallas,

0:18:19 > 0:18:22it looked just as good as when I'd taken it out of the swamp.

0:18:22 > 0:18:25So he'd taken good care of it, even though he put it underwater.

0:18:29 > 0:18:31He got to thinking,

0:18:31 > 0:18:35" Hey, I didn't do that and I've been saying that I did,

0:18:35 > 0:18:39"and I'm in over my head now, so I better tell them what really happened.

0:18:39 > 0:18:43"Because they are going to send me to the penitentiary for the rest of my life,

0:18:43 > 0:18:45"if I don't tell them what really happened."

0:18:45 > 0:18:49So he said, "Hey, I'm just bragging about this.

0:18:49 > 0:18:52"I didn't do it, but I was there, and I know who did do it."

0:18:54 > 0:18:56And, of course, he came clean then.

0:18:57 > 0:18:59He tried to hide no facts.

0:18:59 > 0:19:02And he just seemed like a friendly kid.

0:19:04 > 0:19:09I may have talked to him 15 or 20 minutes, just on a friendly basis...

0:19:11 > 0:19:13..just to keep him friendly.

0:19:15 > 0:19:18We didn't want to make him mad.

0:19:20 > 0:19:24But we didn't want him to tell us something that he thought.

0:19:24 > 0:19:27We wanted him to tell us what we knew.

0:19:27 > 0:19:30It wasn't very long until I realised that what he knew...

0:19:31 > 0:19:32..was the facts of the case,

0:19:32 > 0:19:35and it matched perfectly with what we knew.

0:19:35 > 0:19:37And it had to be right.

0:19:37 > 0:19:40The story that I told was...

0:19:40 > 0:19:45It was like 12 something, so it was the next day.

0:19:45 > 0:19:48Early in the morning. We were stopped.

0:19:51 > 0:19:54When we were stopped, the officer came up to the car,

0:19:54 > 0:19:58and asked to see the driver's licence or whatever and he just started shooting.

0:20:03 > 0:20:07I don't know why, but it's always seemed like time just stopped or something.

0:20:10 > 0:20:12It didn't seem like any time passed, you know?.

0:20:14 > 0:20:17It just seemed like it was... Boom!

0:20:17 > 0:20:19Time stopped or something. I don't know what it is.

0:20:19 > 0:20:21You know, er...

0:20:25 > 0:20:26It's like a flash.

0:20:28 > 0:20:30We went back to his room.

0:20:31 > 0:20:35He was supposed to ask his brother if I could stay there that night.

0:20:35 > 0:20:40But he said that his brother don't like to do that or something, you know?

0:20:40 > 0:20:43Anyhow, he went in and never came back out, so I left.

0:20:46 > 0:20:48Ended up pulling into a parking lot.

0:20:50 > 0:20:52I slept there I think, for a while.

0:20:52 > 0:20:55Then, finally, the next morning, early or something.

0:20:55 > 0:20:57I found my way to Freeway 45...

0:20:59 > 0:21:01..and went back home.

0:21:06 > 0:21:10After riding around with him, I come to find out he's got an arsenal.

0:21:10 > 0:21:14He's got pistols. He's got rifles.

0:21:14 > 0:21:16You know, he's got this pistol,

0:21:16 > 0:21:18he's waving it around, he's doing this.

0:21:18 > 0:21:23I told him, "Hey, why don't you put those in the trunk of the car?"

0:21:24 > 0:21:26We stopped at a restaurant,

0:21:26 > 0:21:29and ordered, and ate sandwiches in the car.

0:21:29 > 0:21:31I bought a six-pack of beer.

0:21:32 > 0:21:34He pulled this pistol back out.

0:21:34 > 0:21:37And I ask him why he got the pistol out?

0:21:37 > 0:21:41And he...kind of laughed,

0:21:41 > 0:21:44rolled the window down, and fired the pistol outside the car.

0:21:46 > 0:21:49And I asked him to please put it up.

0:21:50 > 0:21:55I think he handed me the pistol, and I put it under the driver's seat.

0:21:55 > 0:21:59He wanted to go to the movies, so we went to the movies.

0:21:59 > 0:22:01We got there probably about seven o'clock.

0:22:03 > 0:22:05SCREAMS

0:22:09 > 0:22:12He was the one that had picked the movie out.

0:22:12 > 0:22:15I call them drive-in movies "beer-drinking movies".

0:22:15 > 0:22:18You know, 50 cents, put them together and make a bunch of money,

0:22:18 > 0:22:21with a bunch of people getting drunk at the drive-in.

0:22:21 > 0:22:23Are you going to concede to my point?

0:22:23 > 0:22:26- Please, sit down Miss Radcliffe. - What is this, Mr Brooks?

0:22:26 > 0:22:29- Anybody can see it's an ashtray. - Wrong!

0:22:29 > 0:22:32Anybody can plainly see it's a wall-breaker!

0:22:32 > 0:22:34I'm trying to speak for you!

0:22:34 > 0:22:39I'm trying to speak for all of you! I AM the student body!

0:22:41 > 0:22:46'The show that was on was half over. We watched half of the one show.

0:22:46 > 0:22:49'We had started watching the first part of the second show.'

0:22:51 > 0:22:54# We want a victory, and we're gonna get it

0:22:54 > 0:22:58# We want a victory, and we're gonna get it... #

0:22:58 > 0:22:59Yay, team!

0:22:59 > 0:23:05# We want a victory, and we're gonna get it. Yay! #

0:23:05 > 0:23:08'I didn't really care for the second feature,

0:23:08 > 0:23:13which is an R-rated, cheerleader-type thing. I don't know what it was.

0:23:13 > 0:23:15May I have some wine?

0:23:32 > 0:23:34It's good, Ross. I didn't know you could cook.

0:23:34 > 0:23:39It is good, isn't it? You got to try my celery remoulade.

0:23:50 > 0:23:52No...

0:23:52 > 0:23:54(EXASPERATED): Ah!

0:24:00 > 0:24:02I told him I wanted to leave.

0:24:02 > 0:24:06"I don't really care to sit here and watch this. Let's go."

0:24:06 > 0:24:09So he's acting kind of strange,

0:24:09 > 0:24:12cos he wanted to watch the end of the movie.

0:24:12 > 0:24:13Anyway, we left.

0:24:13 > 0:24:17And we drove back towards Dallas and the motel.

0:24:18 > 0:24:21There's a little store.

0:24:21 > 0:24:24I bought a pack of cigarettes and a newspaper.

0:24:24 > 0:24:27And when I left, this kid was still sitting there.

0:24:28 > 0:24:31I leaned against the car and we talked to him for a few minutes

0:24:31 > 0:24:35and I told him that since he was looking for a job,

0:24:35 > 0:24:37and there hadn't been anybody there at work,

0:24:37 > 0:24:40that if he wanted to stop back Monday morning,

0:24:40 > 0:24:43that, sure, he could ride out and follow me to work

0:24:43 > 0:24:46and he could talk to the boss. And he would probably get a job.

0:24:46 > 0:24:50I told him that I would catch him Monday morning, if he showed up.

0:24:50 > 0:24:53I told him what time I went to work. Why, I left.

0:24:53 > 0:24:56Walked around the store and went to the house.

0:24:56 > 0:25:00When I walked in, the television was on and my brother was sleeping.

0:25:00 > 0:25:03He had been home this whole time that I had been gone.

0:25:03 > 0:25:06So I made me a sandwich

0:25:06 > 0:25:09and sat there and watched the end of the Carol Burnett Show.

0:25:12 > 0:25:18When it went off, the news came on and I watched 15-20 minutes of it.

0:25:18 > 0:25:21And that was it. I turned the TV off and went to sleep.

0:25:35 > 0:25:39Finally, they bring in a stenographer.

0:25:39 > 0:25:42She sits down and I run the story.

0:25:42 > 0:25:46I tell them what happened this Saturday. She leaves. She types.

0:26:12 > 0:26:19She comes back in about 25-30 minutes with a copy of this statement.

0:26:19 > 0:26:26I read through it, and when it was basically what I liked,

0:26:26 > 0:26:28yes, I signed it.

0:26:38 > 0:26:43He admits driving the car and taking a right on Inwood Road

0:26:43 > 0:26:49off of, uh, Interstate 35 or Highway 183.

0:26:52 > 0:26:54He admits driving it.

0:26:54 > 0:26:58But he says after he made his right turn on Inwood Road,

0:26:58 > 0:27:00this is where our statement ends.

0:27:03 > 0:27:07He says he does not remember anything after that.

0:27:07 > 0:27:10He didn't remember anything about a shooting.

0:27:10 > 0:27:15He didn't remember anything about a police officer stopping him.

0:27:15 > 0:27:19That part of his mind just conveniently went blank.

0:27:19 > 0:27:20He remembered driving the car.

0:27:20 > 0:27:23He remembered approaching the scene of the shooting

0:27:23 > 0:27:26and then, from that point, he blacks out and can't remember

0:27:26 > 0:27:30until he gets to the motel room, which is some ten minutes later.

0:27:30 > 0:27:32Everything else, he remembers vividly.

0:27:32 > 0:27:35And that's just a convenient memory lapse, is all that is.

0:27:39 > 0:27:44The Morning News in Dallas County stated that I had signed a confession

0:27:44 > 0:27:47that I had confessed to the killing of Robert Wood, this and that

0:27:47 > 0:27:50and they had their killer and they were ready to go with it.

0:27:52 > 0:27:59The statement that I signed for Dallas County was never

0:27:59 > 0:28:00- and never would have been -

0:28:00 > 0:28:02anything as "a confession" in court.

0:28:04 > 0:28:06But yet, they labelled it as such.

0:28:06 > 0:28:11Of course, I couldn't dispute this because I didn't even know about it.

0:28:11 > 0:28:15I heard no news. I knew nothing for two weeks.

0:28:15 > 0:28:17They kept me completely away from everybody.

0:28:22 > 0:28:25Several times we talked to her, trying to get her to recall.

0:28:25 > 0:28:30"Do you recall the license number? Do you recall anything to help us?"

0:28:30 > 0:28:32And she gave us a pretty good description of the car.

0:28:32 > 0:28:35As it turned out, her description of the car was real close.

0:28:44 > 0:28:48Of course, it comes out that we weren't looking for a blue Vega.

0:28:48 > 0:28:49We were looking for a Comet.

0:28:51 > 0:28:57No telling the man-hours we wasted, looking for a blue Vega.

0:29:03 > 0:29:08There's a difference between a Vega and a Mercury Comet.

0:29:08 > 0:29:10So in reality, in regard to cars,

0:29:10 > 0:29:14every piece of information that was called in,

0:29:14 > 0:29:18they were calling in regard to a Comet, I mean, a Vega.

0:29:26 > 0:29:29The people that called in were truthful, trying to help.

0:29:29 > 0:29:31They really were trying to help.

0:29:31 > 0:29:34We just all had the wrong information.

0:29:36 > 0:29:38TYRES SCREECH

0:29:41 > 0:29:43TYRES SCREECH

0:29:49 > 0:29:51GUNSHOTS

0:29:54 > 0:29:57There wasn't a mark on this car that David Harris had stolen.

0:29:57 > 0:29:59Wasn't a mark.

0:29:59 > 0:30:04Do you think a car sitting still, starting from a stop,

0:30:04 > 0:30:08heading up a hill, with a woman standing right behind it,

0:30:08 > 0:30:10that is a very good shot with a pistol,

0:30:10 > 0:30:12she should have hit the damn thing one time. She didn't.

0:30:12 > 0:30:16I wish she had blown the driver's head off,

0:30:16 > 0:30:19because I wouldn't have been here.

0:30:22 > 0:30:25I went back several times, and with Mr Cunningham,

0:30:25 > 0:30:29he and I both searched and could find no indications

0:30:29 > 0:30:32that that car had been hit by gunfire.

0:30:34 > 0:30:36Later on, he finally found one place

0:30:36 > 0:30:39that he felt as though that a bullet had been creased on it.

0:30:39 > 0:30:44But before he could tell me about it, his daughter totalled the car out.

0:30:44 > 0:30:46Totally demolished it.

0:30:50 > 0:30:54I was doing burglaries and some robberies,

0:30:54 > 0:30:58and a few possession cases and stuff like that.

0:30:58 > 0:31:00I think he just came up to me and said,

0:31:00 > 0:31:04"Are you Edith James? I'd like to talk about my case."

0:31:04 > 0:31:06That's the way I remember it, anyhow.

0:31:06 > 0:31:09And I said, "Sure." And I said, "What sort of a case is it?"

0:31:09 > 0:31:12He said, "It's a capital murder." And I said, "Ooh!"

0:31:12 > 0:31:14Inside, I kind of thought, "I've never done one,

0:31:14 > 0:31:18"but I can surely talk to him about it."

0:31:20 > 0:31:24I hate to be considered, uh, some kind of dummy

0:31:24 > 0:31:29that believes in the innocence of her clients, whatever.

0:31:29 > 0:31:32A lot of people think, "A woman lawyer,

0:31:32 > 0:31:37"she's bound to stupidly believe anything she's told."

0:31:37 > 0:31:40I admit, I'm sort of a gullible person.

0:31:40 > 0:31:43But on the other hand, I've seen an awful lot of people

0:31:43 > 0:31:46who admitted guilt or were found guilty

0:31:46 > 0:31:51and all but Randall turned out to be guilty, in my opinion.

0:31:53 > 0:31:56Douglas Mulder had a perfect win record.

0:31:57 > 0:32:02I believe he resigned from the DA's office without any defeats.

0:32:02 > 0:32:05That's why he's legendary.

0:32:05 > 0:32:08Everything, as I recall, that Mulder ever said

0:32:08 > 0:32:10was about what a great guy Mulder was

0:32:10 > 0:32:15and how marvellous it was that he was getting all these convictions.

0:32:17 > 0:32:20I wanted somebody else in on it, so I got Dennis interested in it

0:32:20 > 0:32:23because Dennis has a lot more trial experience

0:32:23 > 0:32:27and Dennis wins practically all of his jury cases.

0:32:27 > 0:32:30And Dennis was very enthusiastic about the Randall Adams case

0:32:30 > 0:32:32because he kept saying, "This is one we can win.

0:32:32 > 0:32:34"They don't have substantial evidence.

0:32:34 > 0:32:36"All they've got is David Harris."

0:32:36 > 0:32:41I prepared a motion for a continuance to get more time to try the case

0:32:41 > 0:32:45and, in doing that, had to lay out my schedule for several weeks

0:32:45 > 0:32:49as to exactly what time I'd be in Vidor, Texas.

0:32:49 > 0:32:53Vidor is headquarters of the Ku Klux Klan for the state of Texas.

0:32:53 > 0:32:56It's a city where black people will not spend the night.

0:32:56 > 0:33:00Black people won't even stop there to get their car filled with gasoline.

0:33:00 > 0:33:04And furthermore, the people of Vidor were under the impression

0:33:04 > 0:33:07that the policeman that was murdered was a black man.

0:33:07 > 0:33:09I had to stop at a motel on the way.

0:33:09 > 0:33:12My wife and I stayed in one room, the lady lawyer in another room.

0:33:12 > 0:33:18We arranged to get up very early, go to Vidor and start our investigation.

0:33:18 > 0:33:23At about six in the morning, Edith James, the lady lawyer, got up

0:33:23 > 0:33:24and was looking for me.

0:33:24 > 0:33:28While she went out in the parking lot to find me, she went to one room

0:33:28 > 0:33:30and someone in the parking lot said,

0:33:30 > 0:33:33"If you're looking for the lawyer from Dallas,

0:33:33 > 0:33:35"he's in room..." And he gave her the room number!

0:33:35 > 0:33:38I immediately began to suspect, from the time I was

0:33:38 > 0:33:41that close to Vidor, I was being followed and observed.

0:33:41 > 0:33:45Doug Mulder had been there the week before I had

0:33:45 > 0:33:47and had told the people in Vidor

0:33:47 > 0:33:51that I was an Eastern-educated civil liberties attorney

0:33:51 > 0:33:55and that I was down there to discredit David Harris.

0:33:58 > 0:34:01And then I had been recommended to see one particular policeman

0:34:01 > 0:34:04who had been led to the solution of this case.

0:34:04 > 0:34:06And I had the impression

0:34:06 > 0:34:09he was the one honest policeman I could trust in Vidor.

0:34:12 > 0:34:14He told me that, after the policeman was killed,

0:34:14 > 0:34:17David Harris went back to Vidor.

0:34:17 > 0:34:21But before he was arrested, he committed a robbery down there

0:34:21 > 0:34:24and had someone on the floor of a 7-11 type of store

0:34:24 > 0:34:27with a shotgun at her throat.

0:34:27 > 0:34:34Got back there, robbed O'Bannion's 7-11 with a .22 rifle.

0:34:34 > 0:34:37Committed some other burglaries, and what have you.

0:34:37 > 0:34:41All this time I was on probation. Juvenile probation.

0:34:43 > 0:34:46Eventually I turned myself in for this stuff in Vidor.

0:34:48 > 0:34:49Uh...

0:34:52 > 0:34:56I think I made a confession. I can't even remember exactly.

0:34:56 > 0:34:58So I'm told I did.

0:35:04 > 0:35:07He had told us he had robbed stores, and we laughed.

0:35:07 > 0:35:10"Sure, we know you have." I give him one of my hats.

0:35:10 > 0:35:14It's an old Bonnie-and-Clyde-looking hat, turned sideways.

0:35:14 > 0:35:17We said, "We'll draw you a little moustache, walk in with that gun.

0:35:17 > 0:35:19"Nobody'll know who you are."

0:35:19 > 0:35:21About 2 o'clock that morning,

0:35:21 > 0:35:23I was asleep, and the phone rings. I said, "Hello?"

0:35:23 > 0:35:26He said, "This is David." "This is David Harris?"

0:35:26 > 0:35:29"Yeah," he said, "I did it. Will you come and get me?"

0:35:29 > 0:35:31I said, "Man, I'm not coming to get you. I'm asleep."

0:35:35 > 0:35:37He didn't have a conscience.

0:35:37 > 0:35:41You know, if I do something bad, it kind of gets to me.

0:35:41 > 0:35:46I feel, "Shucks, I shouldn't have done that. I feel bad about it."

0:35:46 > 0:35:49But it didn't bother him. Didn't bother him at all.

0:36:04 > 0:36:08We asked the DA In Vidor, Texas, what they were going to do with David.

0:36:08 > 0:36:12They said, "We'll send him to the Texas Youth Council."

0:36:12 > 0:36:15And we sort of tried to inquire, didn't he think it was strange

0:36:15 > 0:36:19that there was a robbery committed with that same pistol?

0:36:19 > 0:36:22And here it was David Harris's pistol,

0:36:22 > 0:36:25David Harris's automobile that picked up Randall Adams,

0:36:25 > 0:36:29Didn't he think it was a little odd that all the utensils

0:36:29 > 0:36:35for committing this so-called murder, were furnished by David Harris

0:36:35 > 0:36:40who got off scot-free and was being a witness for the prosecution?

0:36:40 > 0:36:44And all he said was, "Well, ho-hum, don't feel that way in Vidor, Texas.

0:36:44 > 0:36:45"Our people just are not that,

0:36:45 > 0:36:50"we're not that keen on ruining a young man's life."

0:36:52 > 0:36:56I tried to introduce the crime spree theory.

0:36:56 > 0:36:59The theory that David Harris was on this series of crimes

0:36:59 > 0:37:02both before and after the killing of the policeman.

0:37:02 > 0:37:05That he would be the person who had

0:37:05 > 0:37:08the heart filled with malice most apt to commit a murder.

0:37:08 > 0:37:12But the judge would not allow me to introduce any of those crimes.

0:37:13 > 0:37:15They'd had a 28-year-old man.

0:37:15 > 0:37:19The only alternative would be prosecuting a 16-year-old

0:37:19 > 0:37:23that could not be given the death penalty under Texas law,

0:37:23 > 0:37:24where a 28-year-old man could.

0:37:27 > 0:37:30That's always been the predominant motive, in my opinion,

0:37:30 > 0:37:34for having a death penalty case against Randall Adams.

0:37:34 > 0:37:36Not that they had him so dead to rights,

0:37:36 > 0:37:38but just that he was a convenient age.

0:37:43 > 0:37:50The judge is supposed to have said, that Don Metcalfe supposedly said

0:37:50 > 0:37:53to Jeanette White, Dennis White's wife, "What do you care?

0:37:53 > 0:37:54"He's only a drifter."

0:37:58 > 0:38:00I grew up in a family

0:38:00 > 0:38:04where I was taught a great respect for law enforcement.

0:38:04 > 0:38:06I became acutely aware

0:38:06 > 0:38:09of the dangers that police officers go through,

0:38:09 > 0:38:11law enforcement officials go through,

0:38:11 > 0:38:15that I think much of the public is not really sensitive to.

0:38:15 > 0:38:18My father was an FBI man,

0:38:18 > 0:38:22probably at the worst possible time to be in the FBI.

0:38:22 > 0:38:25It was from 1932-1935 in Chicago.

0:38:27 > 0:38:31He was at the Biograph Theatre the night Dillinger was killed.

0:38:33 > 0:38:35It was a hot summer evening.

0:38:35 > 0:38:39Little air conditioning in Chicago, and people were out for a walk.

0:38:54 > 0:38:57My father would tell me that when Dillinger was killed,

0:38:57 > 0:38:59within a matter of two minutes,

0:38:59 > 0:39:04people dipped their handkerchiefs in the blood, to get souvenirs.

0:39:04 > 0:39:08And he vividly remembered one lady who, all she had was a newspaper,

0:39:08 > 0:39:09held it up and said,

0:39:09 > 0:39:12"I bet I'm the only lady from Kansas City with John Dillinger's blood."

0:39:17 > 0:39:21He told me, the "Woman in Red", she had on an orange dress.

0:39:21 > 0:39:26This is trivia, OK? It looked red under the lights. He said it was really orange.

0:39:26 > 0:39:29So she got to be known as the "Lady in Red" that fingered Dillinger.

0:39:29 > 0:39:33He said, "It was really the Lady in Orange."

0:39:33 > 0:39:36As her reward, she got a new fur coat

0:39:36 > 0:39:39and a one-way ticket back to her native Romania.

0:39:46 > 0:39:51His whole story, from the start, was two hours late.

0:39:52 > 0:39:58I met this kid at around ten in the morning. He says we met at noon.

0:39:58 > 0:40:02I say we were at the Bronco Bowl at 2 or 3 o'clock.

0:40:02 > 0:40:04He says it was 5 or 6 o'clock.

0:40:06 > 0:40:10Everything that we did coincide with, he was two hours late.

0:40:11 > 0:40:13Two hours later.

0:40:13 > 0:40:15Two hours into the night.

0:40:17 > 0:40:21His testimony is that, as we were getting off the freeway

0:40:21 > 0:40:23on Inwood Avenue,

0:40:23 > 0:40:28he stated that I'm driving the car, that we're pulled over.

0:40:28 > 0:40:31He gets scared and he slumps down in the seat of the car.

0:40:41 > 0:40:45That as the officer walks up and shines his flashlight,

0:40:46 > 0:40:48and I roll down my window...

0:40:48 > 0:40:50FOOTSTEPS APPROACH

0:40:52 > 0:40:54..I pull the pistol out and blow this man away.

0:40:54 > 0:40:56TYRES SCREECH

0:41:01 > 0:41:07His testimony is, when I finally do drive to the motel, I get out.

0:41:07 > 0:41:11I tell him, "Don't worry about it. Forget this ever happened."

0:41:11 > 0:41:14Well, that's crazy. That's crazy.

0:41:16 > 0:41:18The police officer was killed at 12:30,

0:41:18 > 0:41:21which is about two and a half hours after he last saw me.

0:41:25 > 0:41:27Just before he went into the motel,

0:41:27 > 0:41:30he'd gone across the motel courtyard

0:41:30 > 0:41:33to a little store over there and bought some cigarettes.

0:41:33 > 0:41:37And I was supposed to go and find out if the man remembered him,

0:41:37 > 0:41:41coming in there just before 10 o'clock, to buy the cigarettes.

0:41:41 > 0:41:44Well, I didn't get over there to Fort Worth for a long time.

0:41:44 > 0:41:50We got pictures from his family that didn't show him in jail clothes.

0:41:50 > 0:41:54I took the pictures in to show them to the man behind the counter.

0:41:54 > 0:41:58He was very co-operative, and he wanted to help us.

0:41:58 > 0:42:00But he honestly said, "I don't remember anything

0:42:00 > 0:42:03"about this guy coming in there,

0:42:03 > 0:42:05"might've been that night or any other night,

0:42:05 > 0:42:08"cos they were always coming for cigarettes."

0:42:08 > 0:42:14His brother, at first,

0:42:14 > 0:42:18was saying that, at the time of the murder,

0:42:18 > 0:42:26that he was home, watching, I believe it was a wrestling match on TV.

0:42:26 > 0:42:31And he said, "Me and my brother likes wrestling matches. He was with me."

0:42:31 > 0:42:35"Randall, my brother, was with me all night long. He couldn't have done it."

0:42:35 > 0:42:38He was trying to cover for his brother.

0:42:39 > 0:42:42Later, as I recall, he changed,

0:42:42 > 0:42:48because he said, "Well, hey. If I get down there and perjure myself,

0:42:48 > 0:42:53"there's nothing that they can do because they've got the case."

0:42:53 > 0:42:57This is the way I think that he thought.

0:42:57 > 0:42:59"They know that my brother did it.

0:42:59 > 0:43:03"If I get up there and lie, they are going to have me for perjury.

0:43:03 > 0:43:05"I'll be in the penitentiary with him,

0:43:05 > 0:43:07"and it ain't going to do any good.

0:43:07 > 0:43:10"So I just ain't going to testify. I ain't gonna say nothing."

0:43:10 > 0:43:13So he backed off of his story completely

0:43:13 > 0:43:17and Adams was left without any witnesses.

0:43:23 > 0:43:27Her in-court testimony and original statement, which should be the best,

0:43:27 > 0:43:30you're talking 15-20 minutes after the killing,

0:43:30 > 0:43:34should be the best eyewitness testimony she's got.

0:43:34 > 0:43:37It doesn't match. Doesn't match at all.

0:43:53 > 0:43:56In court, she testified,

0:43:56 > 0:43:59he got out of the car, she got out of the car.

0:43:59 > 0:44:02She positioned herself at the back of the automobile.

0:44:02 > 0:44:05FOOTSTEPS APPROACH

0:44:10 > 0:44:12FOOTSTEPS GET LOUDER

0:44:16 > 0:44:19Her original statement, 15 minutes after the killing,

0:44:19 > 0:44:21"a fur-lined collar on the killer."

0:44:21 > 0:44:26In court, "It might have been bushy hair."

0:44:26 > 0:44:29The kid testified that I had a Levi jacket on,

0:44:29 > 0:44:33which is the same type collar, basically, the same as this.

0:44:33 > 0:44:36He testified at pre-trial that he had a fur-lined parka.

0:44:36 > 0:44:39She's telling you who killed the man.

0:44:39 > 0:44:42One person in the car with a fur-lined collar.

0:44:53 > 0:44:57Very convenient that the driver happened to have bushy hair.

0:44:57 > 0:45:00All she's got to do is look at a picture they took of me.

0:45:00 > 0:45:02But that is not her original statement.

0:45:02 > 0:45:06It's a hell of a big difference from "fur-lined collar" to "bushy hair."

0:45:06 > 0:45:09It's crazy. It's crazy.

0:45:11 > 0:45:14She went through two weeks' Internal Affairs.

0:45:14 > 0:45:16When she comes out, her testimony changes.

0:45:16 > 0:45:19She goes in saying one thing, she comes out saying another.

0:45:19 > 0:45:21Something happened. What?

0:45:21 > 0:45:24"Ah well, you know, we refreshed her memory."

0:45:30 > 0:45:33Friday afternoon, I think it was Good Friday,

0:45:33 > 0:45:36we came back in the courtroom that afternoon

0:45:36 > 0:45:40and we were sort of elated because we thought, well, he's gonna walk.

0:45:41 > 0:45:44And there's nothing really in that evidence.

0:45:44 > 0:45:48There's just little David Harris, and nobody believes him.

0:45:48 > 0:45:50And so we were very optimistic about his chances

0:45:50 > 0:45:53until we walked into the courtroom and here were all these people

0:45:53 > 0:45:56standing in front of the bench. Three of them, anyway.

0:45:56 > 0:46:00They were taking the oath to be sworn as witnesses.

0:46:00 > 0:46:05Mrs Miller got on the stand that last afternoon.

0:46:05 > 0:46:08And she said, "That's the man, I saw that man!

0:46:08 > 0:46:13"I saw Randall Adams' face just right after..." She said,

0:46:13 > 0:46:18"I saw the gun sticking out of the car when he shot that police officer.

0:46:18 > 0:46:20"And that's the man!"

0:46:20 > 0:46:24And she waved her finger toward Randall Adams. She's the one that got him convicted.

0:46:26 > 0:46:28When I was a kid, I used to want to be a detective

0:46:28 > 0:46:31because I used to watch all the detective shows on TV.

0:46:35 > 0:46:39When I was a kid, they used to show these movies with Boston Blackie.

0:46:43 > 0:46:45He always had a woman with him.

0:46:46 > 0:46:48I wanted to be a wife of a detective

0:46:48 > 0:46:51or be a detective, so I always watched detective stories.

0:46:55 > 0:46:58I'm always looking because I never know what might come up.

0:46:58 > 0:47:01Or how I could help.

0:47:01 > 0:47:05I like to help in situations like that. I really do.

0:47:08 > 0:47:12It's always happening to me, everywhere I go, lots of times,

0:47:12 > 0:47:16there's killings or anything. Even around my house. Wherever.

0:47:16 > 0:47:20I'm always looking or getting involved, to find out who did it, what's going on.

0:47:28 > 0:47:32I listen to people. And I'm always trying to decide who's lying

0:47:32 > 0:47:37or who killed who...before the police do, see if I can beat them.

0:47:37 > 0:47:38Yeah.

0:47:50 > 0:47:54I was working at a gas station. My husband and I both.

0:47:56 > 0:47:59We weren't getting along well at all.

0:47:59 > 0:48:03We were arguing back and forth. This is why we didn't want to go home

0:48:03 > 0:48:05because we would rather talk it out in the car

0:48:05 > 0:48:09than go home with the kids and fight. Had to listen to them, too.

0:48:09 > 0:48:11So we were really arguing

0:48:11 > 0:48:14and we decided to go get something to eat.

0:48:14 > 0:48:18About that time, a police came out of a restaurant on the right hand side of the road...

0:48:18 > 0:48:22and he went to pull the man over.

0:48:31 > 0:48:34She turned around. She was looking hard. She looked...

0:48:34 > 0:48:37I didn't think she seen the guy, but she did.

0:48:37 > 0:48:40I said, "What you looking at?" Cos I knew something had went wrong.

0:48:40 > 0:48:42She said, "You just shut up and drive."

0:48:45 > 0:48:49And I kept telling my husband, "Slow down, slow down so I can see."

0:48:49 > 0:48:53He said, "Come on, we're getting out of here. You're too nosey.

0:48:53 > 0:48:55"You don't even know what's going on."

0:48:57 > 0:49:02I had no idea that somebody was going to get killed or shot.

0:49:02 > 0:49:03So I just drove on.

0:49:07 > 0:49:10He was one of these kind that didn't like getting involved in nothing.

0:49:10 > 0:49:14He wanted to go on. He told me to shut up and turn around, don't look.

0:49:14 > 0:49:16I turned around and looked anyway.

0:49:22 > 0:49:26So we heard something, like backfire or firecrackers.

0:49:26 > 0:49:30And so we drove over the bridge and I got to thinking.

0:49:30 > 0:49:33I said, "Em, there're no firecrackers this time of the year."

0:49:33 > 0:49:36GUNSHOTS

0:49:38 > 0:49:43I was thinking to myself, "That couldn't be somebody shooting."

0:49:43 > 0:49:45GUNSHOTS

0:49:47 > 0:49:50It was real dark, and it was cold.

0:49:50 > 0:49:55It was hard to see in that car. But, see, his window was down.

0:49:55 > 0:50:00The driver's window was down. And this is how I got such a good look.

0:50:07 > 0:50:09I couldn't see anything inside.

0:50:09 > 0:50:13It was kind of...shadows on the window and stuff.

0:50:13 > 0:50:16But when he rolled down the window, it made his face stand out so,

0:50:16 > 0:50:18the car was dark blue.

0:50:23 > 0:50:28He had a beard, moustache, kind of dishwater-blond hair.

0:50:30 > 0:50:33But, like I said, when he was in court,

0:50:33 > 0:50:34he sure looked a lot different.

0:50:36 > 0:50:39All I could just tell by this and this, that it was him.

0:50:43 > 0:50:46I knew that there was some shots over there.

0:50:46 > 0:50:48But I didn't want to be involved in it

0:50:48 > 0:50:52because West Dallas is a high-crime neighbourhood. One of the biggest.

0:50:52 > 0:50:55He was more scared of it than I was.

0:50:55 > 0:50:58But, see, when you have black people like that...

0:50:58 > 0:51:02they don't like getting involved in nothing. That's just common.

0:51:02 > 0:51:07Like here, nobody wants to see nothing or hear nothing.

0:51:07 > 0:51:10And they'll stay completely in the background.

0:51:10 > 0:51:12That's why they were having such a hard time over there,

0:51:12 > 0:51:15finding anybody that would come forward.

0:51:15 > 0:51:17Because it was in a totally black neighbourhood.

0:51:20 > 0:51:26She just believe in - see somebody done something wrong, she tell it.

0:51:26 > 0:51:28Cos she told on me...

0:51:32 > 0:51:34..a couple of times.

0:51:34 > 0:51:38She said that I was hauling drugs out of El Paso.

0:51:39 > 0:51:43Called the sheriff down there, going make me open my trunk.

0:51:43 > 0:51:47So I ended up opening it but there was nothing in it.

0:51:50 > 0:51:53Oh, man. She's... Good grief.

0:51:55 > 0:51:58She's always, if she find out you done something, she sure turn you in.

0:52:03 > 0:52:05GUNSHOT

0:52:05 > 0:52:08Mrs Miller had testified at the trial

0:52:08 > 0:52:12that she had gotten off early from her gas station job

0:52:12 > 0:52:16and gone down to pick up her husband to help him with the bookwork.

0:52:16 > 0:52:19We found out that she was not doing bookkeeping for that station

0:52:19 > 0:52:22because she had been fired from her job two weeks earlier

0:52:22 > 0:52:24for till-tapping, for stealing.

0:52:24 > 0:52:29The reason that they were talking to the police at all

0:52:29 > 0:52:33was that there had been a three-day running knife fight in their apartment

0:52:33 > 0:52:37and they were all booked for disorderly and drunk behaviour in there,

0:52:37 > 0:52:41including assault with knives and all kinds of stuff.

0:52:41 > 0:52:43When they were down at the police station,

0:52:43 > 0:52:47they suddenly decided to volunteer all this information about what they had seen,

0:52:47 > 0:52:49about the police officer's killing.

0:52:51 > 0:52:53A woman called me and said that she knew this woman

0:52:53 > 0:52:57who had testified and identified Randall Adams from a passing vehicle

0:52:57 > 0:53:00and that this woman had never told the truth in her life.

0:53:05 > 0:53:09She also told me that she had tried to call the DA during the trial

0:53:09 > 0:53:12and give this evidence that this woman was not believable,

0:53:12 > 0:53:16that if their case hinged on this testimony, this was not believable testimony.

0:53:16 > 0:53:18They were scum.

0:53:18 > 0:53:21They were just, um...

0:53:21 > 0:53:23actually scum.

0:53:23 > 0:53:26He was a black man and she was a white woman.

0:53:26 > 0:53:29He came to work the day after.

0:53:29 > 0:53:35He told me about the policeman that had gotten shot the night before. I hadn't heard anything about it.

0:53:35 > 0:53:39And I thought it was another one of his stories.

0:53:39 > 0:53:42And he brings in these newspapers.

0:53:42 > 0:53:46And he says he didn't see a damn thing. He couldn't see nothing, it was too dark.

0:53:48 > 0:53:51Wheels started rolling in his head about money.

0:53:52 > 0:53:55That's when he got the idea.

0:53:56 > 0:53:58Let me put it in his words.

0:53:58 > 0:54:03For enough money, he would testify to what they wanted him to say.

0:54:03 > 0:54:07He would say anything they wanted him to say.

0:54:07 > 0:54:11He would see anything that they wanted him to see.

0:54:11 > 0:54:12Those were his words.

0:54:15 > 0:54:17I was shocked that he did go ahead

0:54:17 > 0:54:21and get up and tell that he saw the actual shooting

0:54:21 > 0:54:26and-and recognised the boy. Identified him.

0:54:28 > 0:54:31That's when I called Dennis White. I told him, "That man's lying."

0:54:33 > 0:54:36Nobody has that good of eyesight.

0:54:36 > 0:54:38I mean, you know...

0:54:38 > 0:54:43Oh... From where the policeman was supposed to have been shot

0:54:43 > 0:54:45and from where they were at, um...

0:54:45 > 0:54:49I doubt if you could have even seen them with binoculars.

0:54:53 > 0:54:58I'm a salesman. And you develop something like a total recall.

0:54:58 > 0:55:04I don't forget places, things...or streets.

0:55:04 > 0:55:07Because it's a habit, something I just picked up.

0:55:07 > 0:55:11I just stare intensely at people and try to figure them out.

0:55:13 > 0:55:15Being nosy, I just stare.

0:55:19 > 0:55:22I was leaving the Plush Pub one night...

0:55:22 > 0:55:27driving a...1977 Cadillac...

0:55:27 > 0:55:30heading west on Hampton.

0:55:30 > 0:55:35I noticed an officer had two individuals pulled over...

0:55:35 > 0:55:37to the kerb in a blue...

0:55:37 > 0:55:39some type of vehicle.

0:55:39 > 0:55:41It was a blue...

0:55:42 > 0:55:44It was a blue Ford...

0:55:44 > 0:55:46It was a blue something.

0:55:49 > 0:55:53The driver, I think, had long hair and a moustache.

0:55:53 > 0:55:56And the other one didn't have no hairs on his face.

0:56:01 > 0:56:04A person that is white going through that area at night,

0:56:04 > 0:56:09he's a sore thumb, he stick out for the first reason.

0:56:09 > 0:56:11And if they don't look right, they're going to stop you.

0:56:14 > 0:56:17The officer, he walked up to the vehicle.

0:56:18 > 0:56:22His car was behind... I don't know if it was behind or in front,

0:56:22 > 0:56:25but I know he had him pulled over, and he was up to the car.

0:56:25 > 0:56:28I think he was up to the car.

0:56:28 > 0:56:32Let me think. Yeah, he was up to the car.

0:56:33 > 0:56:36As we was coming by, he had to have been up to the car.

0:56:43 > 0:56:48I didn't see no bullet. I didn't see no gunfire. Because I went on.

0:57:00 > 0:57:02GUNSHOT

0:57:02 > 0:57:08We have three people that testified and identified him, positively,

0:57:08 > 0:57:11as being the driver at the time that Wood was walking up,

0:57:11 > 0:57:13right beside the car.

0:57:13 > 0:57:17So we know that he was the driver from the witnesses

0:57:17 > 0:57:23and we also know that it was the driver that shot Officer Wood, coming from his partner.

0:57:24 > 0:57:28We couldn't have made a case with the voluntary statement that we got from Adams.

0:57:28 > 0:57:32We had to rely on witnesses. And this is what we did.

0:57:33 > 0:57:38I always try very hard - every judge I know of does -

0:57:38 > 0:57:41to not show emotion on the bench.

0:57:41 > 0:57:44The reason, if you do show emotion,

0:57:44 > 0:57:47the jury might take it that you're favouring one side or another.

0:57:47 > 0:57:51So you try to remain passive, emotionless, objective.

0:57:51 > 0:57:54I do have to admit that in the Adams' case,

0:57:54 > 0:57:56and I've never really said this,

0:57:56 > 0:58:00Doug Mulder's final argument was one I'd never heard before,

0:58:00 > 0:58:05about the thin blue line of police that separated the public from anarchy.

0:58:06 > 0:58:11I have to concede that my eyes kind of welled up when I heard that.

0:58:11 > 0:58:14It did get to me emotionally, but I don't think I showed it.

0:58:36 > 0:58:40In death penalty cases, we have a question, or we did at the time,

0:58:40 > 0:58:45of whether or not that person is of a dangerous mentality,

0:58:45 > 0:58:47and might be expected to commit other crimes.

0:58:47 > 0:58:50To answer that question, the Dallas District Attorney

0:58:50 > 0:58:54sends psychiatrists to the defendant's cell,

0:58:54 > 0:58:57to discover whether he is without remorse,

0:58:57 > 0:59:00and therefore is a dangerous and psychopathic personality.

0:59:00 > 0:59:03Of course, in the instance of a person

0:59:03 > 0:59:07who did not commit the crime, they're not going to show remorse.

0:59:07 > 0:59:11There were two psychiatrists that appeared again and again.

0:59:11 > 0:59:14Holbrook and Grigson, the "Killer Shrinks."

0:59:15 > 0:59:20There was certain criticism directed against these two people.

0:59:20 > 0:59:24Because, in effect, whenever they showed up,

0:59:24 > 0:59:28the purpose of their visit was to kill the defendant.

0:59:28 > 0:59:33It was April 15th, tax day.

0:59:33 > 0:59:37I think I was filling out my taxes at the time. Afraid I might be late.

0:59:39 > 0:59:42A guard walks up to the door and tells me,

0:59:42 > 0:59:44"There's someone out here who wants to talk to you."

0:59:47 > 0:59:49I ask him who it was.

0:59:49 > 0:59:52He said he didn't know, but the court ordered me to talk to him.

0:59:52 > 0:59:53I said, "All right."

0:59:53 > 0:59:56And in comes this real tall, ostrich-looking dude.

0:59:56 > 0:59:59He introduced himself as Dr Grigson.

1:00:01 > 1:00:04He pulled a pad out of his coat pocket

1:00:04 > 1:00:07that had a line drawn across it.

1:00:07 > 1:00:12On this pad, on the upper half, he had six images.

1:00:12 > 1:00:16I will say a box, a square, a circle with a diamond in it.

1:00:16 > 1:00:18I don't know. It's been a while.

1:00:19 > 1:00:24He slides this piece of paper across to me and he hands me a pencil.

1:00:24 > 1:00:26He says, "I'm going to get a cup of coffee."

1:00:26 > 1:00:29"Please copy what's on this piece of paper."

1:00:32 > 1:00:35I'm looking at this man.

1:00:35 > 1:00:38I said, "What? You want it copied just the same way you did?"

1:00:38 > 1:00:41"You want me to change them around? What do you want me to do?"

1:00:41 > 1:00:45He said, "Just do whatever you think you want to do." And he left.

1:00:47 > 1:00:50So on the bottom half of this piece of paper,

1:00:50 > 1:00:54I made my boxes and Xs, and zeros with diamonds in it,

1:00:54 > 1:00:55exactly like his.

1:00:58 > 1:01:00He asked me,

1:01:00 > 1:01:04"What's the meaning of 'A rolling stone gathers no moss?"'

1:01:04 > 1:01:09I'm looking at this man. I said, "Are you kidding? Is this a joke?

1:01:09 > 1:01:13He said, "No, I really want to know your answer to that question."

1:01:15 > 1:01:20I said, well, "A rolling stone gathers no moss. To me, it would

1:01:20 > 1:01:23represent that a person that doesn't stand still long enough,

1:01:23 > 1:01:27it's kind of hard for people to cling to him.

1:01:27 > 1:01:30"If he keeps moving around, it's hard to get close to him."

1:01:31 > 1:01:33He shook his head.

1:01:33 > 1:01:38He said, "What about 'A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush"'?

1:01:38 > 1:01:42I said, "If you have a hold of something, why give it up for

1:01:42 > 1:01:45a chance of getting something that might be a little better?"

1:01:45 > 1:01:48"It doesn't make sense. You've got something good, why let go of it?"

1:01:48 > 1:01:51"If you can get the other one, get it if you can,

1:01:51 > 1:01:55"but don't let go of what you got to try to get something else."

1:01:55 > 1:02:01He asked about my family. He asked about my background.

1:02:01 > 1:02:03And he left.

1:02:03 > 1:02:06Total time we had talked, maybe 15, 20 minutes.

1:02:09 > 1:02:13Dr Grigson was up there testifying he would commit violent crimes

1:02:13 > 1:02:15in the future if he was released.

1:02:15 > 1:02:20Grigson is known as "Dr Death" because he always testifies that way.

1:02:20 > 1:02:21In about 99% of the trials

1:02:21 > 1:02:25that he's been a witness for the prosecution, he always testifies

1:02:25 > 1:02:28that they will commit violent crimes in the future.

1:02:28 > 1:02:35You can't tell what somebody's going to do years from now. Not really.

1:02:35 > 1:02:38Except based on your past record, which anybody can do.

1:02:42 > 1:02:45Randall never had any prior record.

1:02:45 > 1:02:49And as far as we know, he never had any history of violence whatever.

1:02:52 > 1:02:54Grigson testified for two and a half hours

1:02:54 > 1:02:58about all these degrees he's got.

1:02:58 > 1:03:01He's been here, and he's been there, and he's studied here.

1:03:02 > 1:03:07He called me Charlie Manson. He called me Adolf Hitler.

1:03:07 > 1:03:11He said I'm the type of personality

1:03:11 > 1:03:13that can work all day and creep all night.

1:03:15 > 1:03:17He testified, Grigson,

1:03:20 > 1:03:26that the future seriousness of my mental state

1:03:26 > 1:03:30would be such that if they released me,

1:03:30 > 1:03:33I would go crazy and probably butcher half of Dallas County.

1:03:33 > 1:03:36Even though he talked to me 15 minutes,

1:03:36 > 1:03:40I have no prior convictions, no prior arrests.

1:03:40 > 1:03:42I was non-violent for 28 years.

1:03:42 > 1:03:44And in one instance,

1:03:44 > 1:03:47and that's saying if I did this, which I didn't,

1:03:47 > 1:03:51he's stating that, that's enough. For the rest of my life, watch me.

1:03:51 > 1:03:55Don't ever turn your back on me. And he talked to me 15 minutes.

1:03:57 > 1:03:58He's crazy.

1:04:02 > 1:04:07You can understand why a man might steal if he needs money

1:04:07 > 1:04:08to put food on the table.

1:04:08 > 1:04:12I can understand why a 17-year-old boy who doesn't have a car

1:04:12 > 1:04:14would steal one to ride around in.

1:04:14 > 1:04:17I can understand why the heroin addict needs heroin.

1:04:17 > 1:04:21But it's very hard to understand why anyone has to kill a police officer.

1:04:21 > 1:04:23It just doesn't have to be.

1:04:34 > 1:04:37When I'm asleep and I close my eyes and think, "Why would he do it?"

1:04:37 > 1:04:40He had no background that would lead to murder,

1:04:40 > 1:04:42no reason to commit a murder.

1:04:42 > 1:04:45And I look at the facts of the case and say,

1:04:45 > 1:04:49David Harris knew the car was stolen, knew the guns were there,

1:04:49 > 1:04:52knew the guns were stolen, was on a crime spree,

1:04:52 > 1:04:56had had a criminal record prior to stealing this car and these guns.

1:04:56 > 1:04:58He was the one that wanted to commit the murder

1:04:58 > 1:05:00and get away from the scene.

1:05:00 > 1:05:03He was the one that, after the murder was committed

1:05:03 > 1:05:07went right back home and bragged about it to his friends.

1:05:07 > 1:05:09I looked at all the evidence,

1:05:09 > 1:05:14and I found that I believed that David Harris committed murder.

1:05:14 > 1:05:16The jury looked at the same evidence,

1:05:16 > 1:05:19and found they believed that Randall Adams committed murder.

1:05:19 > 1:05:22And it was their verdict that counted.

1:05:45 > 1:05:47You have a DA.

1:05:49 > 1:05:51He doesn't talk about

1:05:51 > 1:05:54when they convict you or how they convict you,

1:05:54 > 1:05:58he's talking about how he's going to kill you.

1:05:58 > 1:06:00He don't give a damn if you're innocent.

1:06:00 > 1:06:02He don't give a damn if you're guilty.

1:06:02 > 1:06:05He's talking about killing you.

1:06:12 > 1:06:14You get numb. You get...

1:06:16 > 1:06:20It's like a bad dream. You want to wake up, but you can't do it.

1:06:24 > 1:06:2815 times, 20 times a day, I hear this same story

1:06:28 > 1:06:31about what happens when a man is electrocuted.

1:06:33 > 1:06:35His eyeballs pop out.

1:06:35 > 1:06:38His fingernails pop out. His toenails pop out.

1:06:38 > 1:06:41He bleeds out of every orifice he's got.

1:06:47 > 1:06:48They don't care.

1:06:50 > 1:06:52They don't care.

1:06:52 > 1:06:55All they want to do is talk about how they're going to kill you.

1:06:55 > 1:06:58That's the only thing that they cared about and talked about.

1:07:00 > 1:07:03At that point, that's all they're wanting.

1:07:09 > 1:07:12I didn't have any idea what happened to him.

1:07:14 > 1:07:16After I testified, I was gone.

1:07:18 > 1:07:21I never really concerned myself with it.

1:07:26 > 1:07:29Maybe I didn't want to know. I don't know.

1:07:30 > 1:07:32I didn't have any interest in knowing,

1:07:32 > 1:07:35otherwise I might have tried to find out.

1:07:38 > 1:07:40Dennis filed the motion for a new trial,

1:07:40 > 1:07:43then we filed an amended motion for a new trial.

1:07:43 > 1:07:45About 20 days later, we were to have a hearing on it.

1:07:45 > 1:07:49Both Robert Miller and his wife testified there.

1:07:49 > 1:07:51But we could not bring out the fact,

1:07:51 > 1:07:55that they had said that they were going to get that reward money,

1:07:55 > 1:07:58and that they didn't care whether they saw anything or not,

1:07:58 > 1:08:00but their car was too steamed up.

1:08:01 > 1:08:03We were not allowed to get any of that in,

1:08:03 > 1:08:06because it was held that it was impeaching testimony

1:08:06 > 1:08:08and therefore it came too late.

1:08:08 > 1:08:11We kept running into blank walls.

1:08:13 > 1:08:16A reporter from the Dallas Morning News,

1:08:16 > 1:08:19discovered that one week after the trial was over with,

1:08:19 > 1:08:24the daughter of this woman had a robbery case in this court.

1:08:24 > 1:08:26She offered her testimony

1:08:26 > 1:08:29at a time when her daughter was in danger of going to jail for life,

1:08:29 > 1:08:31and got her daughter out of jail.

1:08:31 > 1:08:33How can you believe her,

1:08:33 > 1:08:36when the very next week the same judge dismisses that case?

1:08:39 > 1:08:42The Millers are the kind of people that would do anything

1:08:42 > 1:08:46if there was something to be gained,

1:08:46 > 1:08:49such as her daughter not being sent to the penitentiary

1:08:49 > 1:08:51for armed robbery or for money.

1:08:51 > 1:08:55When we went to court that day, the District Attorney was hard-nosed.

1:08:55 > 1:08:57Wouldn't let me answer any questions.

1:08:57 > 1:09:02He'd ask me questions, but then he'd cut me off real short.

1:09:03 > 1:09:06That's when he said something about my big fat nose.

1:09:06 > 1:09:09If I'd kept my big fat nose out of their business,

1:09:09 > 1:09:11the Millers would be better off.

1:09:11 > 1:09:14When I started to leave out of the courtroom,

1:09:14 > 1:09:19he started laughing, like, "Didn't do you any good to get up here."

1:09:19 > 1:09:22It really didn't. Didn't help the guy at all.

1:09:29 > 1:09:31To the best of my recollection,

1:09:31 > 1:09:34the brief conversations I have had with Mr Adams,

1:09:34 > 1:09:35and they have been brief,

1:09:35 > 1:09:39I don't even recall ever asking him, or my having told me

1:09:39 > 1:09:40that he did not do it.

1:09:42 > 1:09:46Because, for my purposes, representing him on appeal

1:09:46 > 1:09:48it's totally irrelevant.

1:09:49 > 1:09:58When the Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas voted 9-0 against us,

1:09:58 > 1:10:00I was a little upset about that.

1:10:00 > 1:10:02I felt we, a) should have won,

1:10:02 > 1:10:05b) certainly shouldn't have been slapped so hard

1:10:05 > 1:10:08with the unanimous decision against us.

1:10:08 > 1:10:12I was with my family in an ice-cream parlour,

1:10:12 > 1:10:16and the judge and his family happened to come at the same time.

1:10:16 > 1:10:19And he came over to me and made the comment,

1:10:21 > 1:10:26I see where the Court of Criminal Appeals

1:10:26 > 1:10:27gave me an 'A' in the Adams case.

1:10:27 > 1:10:30Our highest state appellate court,

1:10:30 > 1:10:34the Court of Criminal Appeals in Austin, affirmed the case, nine to nothing.

1:10:34 > 1:10:38Then it was reversed by the United States Supreme Court, eight to one.

1:10:39 > 1:10:42When an Appellate Court reverses a case,

1:10:42 > 1:10:46they are never saying the trial judge was right or wrong.

1:10:46 > 1:10:49They are saying they disagree with the judge.

1:10:49 > 1:10:52You can't, for instance, in the Adams appeals

1:10:52 > 1:10:57say the appellate courts were saying that I was right or I was wrong.

1:10:57 > 1:11:00After all, if, in Austin,

1:11:00 > 1:11:03in our state appeals court, I was nine to nothing correct

1:11:03 > 1:11:06and in Washington, I was one to eight incorrect.

1:11:06 > 1:11:09If you tally all those votes, I come out ten to eight,

1:11:09 > 1:11:12and yet the case was reversed.

1:11:14 > 1:11:16Eight justices of the Supreme Court

1:11:16 > 1:11:19were the first people that ever agreed with me.

1:11:19 > 1:11:23They're the only people anywhere that ever agreed with me about that statute,

1:11:23 > 1:11:26were eight justices of the Supreme Court.

1:11:28 > 1:11:33The Dallas Morning News had a very nice front-page story -

1:11:33 > 1:11:38either the same day or the day after the reversal was announced by the Supreme Court -

1:11:38 > 1:11:42in which Henry Wade, the District Attorney,

1:11:42 > 1:11:45vowed a retrial of Randall Dale Adams.

1:11:45 > 1:11:49Because there was no room in his book for a cop-killer

1:11:49 > 1:11:52getting off with anything less than the death penalty.

1:11:52 > 1:11:57I took that to heart. I thought I was going to get my chance.

1:11:57 > 1:12:00For reasons that were never really made public...

1:12:01 > 1:12:05..Mr Wade requested the governor to commute

1:12:05 > 1:12:07Mr Adams's death penalty to life.

1:12:08 > 1:12:13And that eliminated the possibility of a retrial, based on the reversal.

1:12:13 > 1:12:17I was shocked, I was absolutely shocked.

1:12:17 > 1:12:19I can't help but believe

1:12:19 > 1:12:24that some of the motivation behind that decision was a fear that...

1:12:24 > 1:12:28Adams may be vindicated at a retrial.

1:12:28 > 1:12:32I felt they prosecuted the wrong person and I don't know why.

1:12:32 > 1:12:36I felt that some policeman, whether in Vidor or in Dallas

1:12:36 > 1:12:38made a decision about who to prosecute

1:12:38 > 1:12:42and set the wheels of justice in motion in the wrong direction

1:12:42 > 1:12:45and they got going so fast no-one could stop them.

1:12:45 > 1:12:47I felt it was up to me to stop them and I didn't,

1:12:47 > 1:12:49then I felt it was up to the Supreme Court,

1:12:49 > 1:12:51they did what they could, but then...

1:12:51 > 1:12:54it's all gotten messed up and derailed again.

1:12:54 > 1:13:00Since his trial, I have given up my practice of criminal law.

1:13:03 > 1:13:05I have not had a jury trial

1:13:05 > 1:13:08since I heard the verdict of this jury in this case,

1:13:08 > 1:13:10and don't intend to.

1:13:11 > 1:13:13I just feel like...

1:13:13 > 1:13:18I'll let other people handle these problems for a while.

1:13:18 > 1:13:24Because if justice can miscarry so badly,

1:13:24 > 1:13:26I'd rather do something else.

1:13:26 > 1:13:30Prosecutors in Dallas have said for years,

1:13:30 > 1:13:33"Any prosecutor can convict a guilty man.

1:13:33 > 1:13:36"It takes a great prosecutor to convict an innocent man."

1:13:39 > 1:13:42To this day, I think Mr Mulder

1:13:42 > 1:13:45believes the Randall Dale Adams conviction

1:13:45 > 1:13:47was one of his great victories,

1:13:47 > 1:13:50probably because of some reservations he has

1:13:50 > 1:13:52about Randall Dale Adams's guilt.

1:13:57 > 1:14:00I got a call one morning that a lady here in Vidor

1:14:00 > 1:14:03had been hit over the head with a rolling pin

1:14:03 > 1:14:07and the attacker thought she'd been knocked unconscious

1:14:07 > 1:14:10when, in reality, she wasn't.

1:14:10 > 1:14:12And she recognized the attacker to be David Harris.

1:14:15 > 1:14:18He voluntarily came to the police station.

1:14:18 > 1:14:21I told him, "David, this girl knows who you are.

1:14:21 > 1:14:24"I don't even have to tell you I know the truth.

1:14:24 > 1:14:28"You know I know the truth this time." He said, "I was wrong.

1:14:28 > 1:14:30"I smoked marijuana, I was drinking.

1:14:30 > 1:14:33"I don't know what got over me but something came over me."

1:14:33 > 1:14:38But he forgot to mention one thing - that he was only wearing underwear.

1:14:40 > 1:14:43I felt as though the attack was sexually oriented.

1:14:43 > 1:14:45He never wanted to admit that

1:14:45 > 1:14:48and, as I recall, he never really finally admitted it.

1:14:48 > 1:14:51He'd just get to the point he wouldn't deny it.

1:14:51 > 1:14:54He posted his bond and went to Germany.

1:14:54 > 1:14:57We had a crime with basically the same MO as his

1:14:57 > 1:15:01and so it led me to want to check and see if he was in town.

1:15:01 > 1:15:04I contacted the Worldwide Military Locator

1:15:04 > 1:15:07to see if, through the military, I could locate him.

1:15:07 > 1:15:09I did, and found out he was in prison at the time.

1:15:11 > 1:15:13He really didn't remember what happened.

1:15:13 > 1:15:15He said he woke up in the stockade

1:15:15 > 1:15:18and he'd been told he beat up one of his ranking officers.

1:15:18 > 1:15:22We had another occasion to have a crime that fit his MO a lot,

1:15:22 > 1:15:24so I started looking for him again,

1:15:24 > 1:15:27this time I found him in prison in California.

1:15:27 > 1:15:30So I realised again, unfortunately, he hadn't straightened up.

1:15:30 > 1:15:33He was still having a lot of problems.

1:15:40 > 1:15:42I was 16 years old.

1:15:42 > 1:15:47I'd really had no real dealings with the court systems, etcetera.

1:15:48 > 1:15:51Didn't know how they worked, really.

1:15:51 > 1:15:53Didn't know much about the law.

1:15:53 > 1:15:55Just a young, dumb kid.

1:15:57 > 1:16:01Police give you the time of this and the time this happened

1:16:01 > 1:16:03and you just correlate from those events.

1:16:03 > 1:16:08You just estimate from that event what time it was. You don't know.

1:16:08 > 1:16:10You're taking a guess.

1:16:12 > 1:16:17Police tell you, "It was 12:30 when this crime happened."

1:16:21 > 1:16:24"What time did you leave the movie?"

1:16:24 > 1:16:27"I know it was somewhere around midnight."

1:16:32 > 1:16:34"It might have been before then. I don't know.

1:16:34 > 1:16:36"I didn't have a watch on."

1:16:47 > 1:16:52He went over my testimony with me pretty extensively.

1:16:52 > 1:16:55How I should answer certain questions...

1:16:57 > 1:16:59..things of this nature.

1:16:59 > 1:17:02That's what you call coaching the witness.

1:17:02 > 1:17:05Let's get this evidence in a spectrum

1:17:05 > 1:17:08where it's going to be most effective.

1:17:13 > 1:17:18At the time, I didn't really ponder on it, you know.

1:17:22 > 1:17:26But he was deceiving the jury. He wanted to deceive justice.

1:17:26 > 1:17:31That's why I think that statue with the scales... Justice?

1:17:31 > 1:17:34What is she called? I don't know what she's called.

1:17:34 > 1:17:36She's got that blindfold on.

1:17:36 > 1:17:40We don't see what goes on behind closed doors.

1:17:40 > 1:17:45'I had another woman in the car. I didn't tell them about that.

1:17:45 > 1:17:47'My wife would kill me.'

1:17:47 > 1:17:51She would've tore my head off if she knew I was out with another woman.

1:17:51 > 1:17:52Would you tell?

1:17:52 > 1:17:56That's what happened. I was trying to get her home.

1:17:59 > 1:18:02The driver's side was down because...

1:18:02 > 1:18:04the lady was a little sick.

1:18:04 > 1:18:06Decided she needed some air.

1:18:06 > 1:18:08Because she was pretty drunk.

1:18:15 > 1:18:18'See, the Millers, one is black and one is white.'

1:18:18 > 1:18:22They said I was going with, the reason I was over that night,

1:18:22 > 1:18:25I was over there messing with this man's wife.

1:18:25 > 1:18:29'And I ain't never gone with her in my life, she was too old and ugly.'

1:18:29 > 1:18:32Like I said, the DA will put something into their mouth.

1:18:32 > 1:18:36They could've prefabricated the whole story.

1:18:36 > 1:18:38They sure could've.

1:18:38 > 1:18:41But what I saw is just what I saw. That was it.

1:18:41 > 1:18:44So if they got paid, they got paid for lying.

1:18:47 > 1:18:50They already decided what to do with you in the hall.

1:18:50 > 1:18:52That's why they call it the Hall of Justice,

1:18:52 > 1:18:54the scales are not balanced.

1:18:54 > 1:18:57The scales are in the hall, and they go up and down.

1:18:57 > 1:19:02They might go up for you, favour one way, they might go down against you.

1:19:02 > 1:19:06So if the DA wants you to hang for 15, 20 years, you're hung.

1:19:08 > 1:19:12I had all these charges still pending in Orange County.

1:19:15 > 1:19:18I could have been certified as an adult...

1:19:19 > 1:19:23..maybe given a life sentence. I don't know.

1:19:23 > 1:19:25I'm 16 years old. I know I don't want that.

1:19:27 > 1:19:31That District Attorney told me, "Don't worry about them charges."

1:19:31 > 1:19:36"I'm going to ask your... Defence Attorney is going to ask you

1:19:36 > 1:19:41"if you had any kind of deal, or anything of that nature

1:19:41 > 1:19:45"in exchange for your testimony in this case

1:19:45 > 1:19:48"as relating to those charges," you know?

1:19:50 > 1:19:53"Don't answer that yes, answer it no."

1:19:58 > 1:20:01My husband, he didn't get that good a look at him.

1:20:03 > 1:20:08He wasn't sure, they put a bunch of them there that looked alike.

1:20:08 > 1:20:12They had about three or four in the line-up that had bushy hair,

1:20:12 > 1:20:13but he had his combed down,

1:20:13 > 1:20:17different to what it was in the killing.

1:20:17 > 1:20:19I didn't pick him out right then...

1:20:19 > 1:20:22because I picked out this bushy-haired man.

1:20:25 > 1:20:29I understand one of the other witness did pick out the man at the line-up.

1:20:29 > 1:20:32I'm not sure, but I think he did.

1:20:32 > 1:20:35Of course I picked out Randall Adams just like that.

1:20:37 > 1:20:39I don't know about the others.

1:20:40 > 1:20:43Evidently they did at that time.

1:20:55 > 1:20:58GUNSHOTS

1:21:02 > 1:21:04CAR SCREECHES

1:21:05 > 1:21:07'I just took off.'

1:21:07 > 1:21:08It's like, kids run away,

1:21:08 > 1:21:11they don't think about where they're going to stay,

1:21:11 > 1:21:15how they're going to eat, all these things, you know?

1:21:18 > 1:21:21They had that roof over their head all their lives.

1:21:21 > 1:21:23They don't really think about those things

1:21:23 > 1:21:28till you get out there and you say, "Hey! My stomach's growling now."

1:21:28 > 1:21:32Or, "It's getting cold out here. It's raining."

1:21:32 > 1:21:33ENGINE SCREECHES

1:21:33 > 1:21:36There was ice on the road.

1:21:36 > 1:21:41I remember there was a car coming pretty fast up the road behind me

1:21:41 > 1:21:44and didn't see me or something...

1:21:44 > 1:21:48or was in one lane and came into the other and I was in that lane

1:21:48 > 1:21:50and tried to stop me, went off the side of the road.

1:21:50 > 1:21:53I remember this car went off the side of the road.

1:21:53 > 1:21:54I'm just looking back...

1:21:59 > 1:22:00I remember that.

1:22:06 > 1:22:10I got a call at my house, about 3:30 one morning.

1:22:10 > 1:22:13One of the patrolmen in my department called

1:22:13 > 1:22:16and said, "We arrested this boy named David Harris

1:22:16 > 1:22:19"and he won't even tell us his name. He said he wants to talk to you."

1:22:19 > 1:22:24They told me something that really made me interested. He'd been shot.

1:22:24 > 1:22:29David had initially told me that he had gone to a bar in Houston

1:22:29 > 1:22:32and was flirting with a young lady and her boyfriend became upset

1:22:32 > 1:22:36and chased him out the bar with a pistol, shooting at him. Shot him several times.

1:22:40 > 1:22:42We knew that wasn't true.

1:22:42 > 1:22:45I said, "David, I know you're lying to me.

1:22:45 > 1:22:47"We go through this all the time,

1:22:47 > 1:22:49"all my dealings with you in the past.

1:22:49 > 1:22:52"I don't know what you've done just yet. I know you were shot.

1:22:52 > 1:22:55"I know you were shot doing something you shouldn't have been.

1:22:55 > 1:22:59"We know you burglarized the gun shop. We know you were driving drunk.

1:22:59 > 1:23:04"Got witnesses who can identify you, who can identify your truck."

1:23:04 > 1:23:07I said, "You're caught. So tell the truth."

1:23:07 > 1:23:09And David said, "OK, I killed him."

1:23:13 > 1:23:18Their home was entered while this man and his girlfriend were there alone.

1:23:19 > 1:23:24The man was sent into the bathroom at gunpoint and told to stay there.

1:23:25 > 1:23:29David took the girl and was starting to leave.

1:23:29 > 1:23:33The man exited the apartment with a gun.

1:23:33 > 1:23:35The man fell to the ground, or near the ground

1:23:35 > 1:23:39holding onto a pole there in the parking lot of the apartment complex

1:23:39 > 1:23:43and these last, whether it be two, three, or how many shots,

1:23:43 > 1:23:46were fired at point-blank or near point-blank range.

1:23:51 > 1:23:54David thought the one that was really at fault that night

1:23:54 > 1:23:57was the guy that got killed. He said, "That guy's crazy.

1:23:57 > 1:23:59"He came after me with a gun."

1:23:59 > 1:24:01I told him, "David, you'd broken into his house,

1:24:01 > 1:24:05"you abducted his girlfriend, what was he supposed to do?"

1:24:05 > 1:24:08He said, "Man shouldn't come out with a gun. That dude's crazy.

1:24:08 > 1:24:10"He should have been killed."

1:24:12 > 1:24:15When we went to retrieve the pistol,

1:24:15 > 1:24:16I had to go into the water to get it.

1:24:16 > 1:24:19It was a bayou and it was grassy, snaky-looking area.

1:24:19 > 1:24:22I wasn't real pleased about being there myself

1:24:22 > 1:24:25but David enjoyed watching me having to go down there and look for that gun.

1:24:25 > 1:24:29I'd been searching several minutes, he was up on the bridge

1:24:29 > 1:24:30and probably 25 feet from me,

1:24:30 > 1:24:34directing me to where he thought the gun had landed in the water.

1:24:38 > 1:24:39He was handcuffed.

1:24:39 > 1:24:42Traffic would come by, and he would turn around

1:24:42 > 1:24:45and show them his handcuffs and holler at them, "Help me!

1:24:45 > 1:24:48"The officials will throw me in this water and drown me."

1:24:48 > 1:24:51Anything he could do to make a joke and cut up out there.

1:24:51 > 1:24:53He was really having a good time.

1:24:57 > 1:25:00The kid scares me. The kid scares me.

1:25:00 > 1:25:04To think that he could actually be out there, walking the streets,

1:25:04 > 1:25:07and Dallas County let him go.

1:25:07 > 1:25:12The kid had seven crimes coming down on him. He had armed robberies.

1:25:12 > 1:25:15He had firing on a peace officer.

1:25:15 > 1:25:18He had breaking and enterings, aggravated assaults.

1:25:18 > 1:25:20God knows what all this kid had.

1:25:20 > 1:25:24And Dallas County gives him complete immunity for his testimony. Just lets him walk.

1:25:35 > 1:25:37My mom had a good phrase.

1:25:37 > 1:25:41She said the first night she pulled into Dallas, it was raining

1:25:41 > 1:25:45and that it was lightning and they're coming into Dallas

1:25:45 > 1:25:49and she said, "if there was ever a hell on earth, it's Dallas County."

1:25:49 > 1:25:54(SIGHS) You know, she's right. She's right.

1:26:04 > 1:26:09You deal with people who you sense bad vibrations, more or less.

1:26:09 > 1:26:12You feel, this guy doesn't like me anyway because I'm a policeman.

1:26:12 > 1:26:14You can just kind of sense something.

1:26:14 > 1:26:19Maybe I shouldn't be saying it because police shouldn't take these things to the bank.

1:26:19 > 1:26:22When you deal with people over and over, you sense a lot of things.

1:26:22 > 1:26:24Talking to David,

1:26:24 > 1:26:28you don't ever feel hostile feelings coming from him.

1:26:28 > 1:26:32I have never seen David any way other than cordial,

1:26:32 > 1:26:35friendly to me as he could be, "Yes, sir. No, sir."

1:26:35 > 1:26:41Never disrespectful. I've never seen the bad side.

1:26:41 > 1:26:44I've seen the results and talked to him about it, he's aware of it.

1:26:44 > 1:26:46He remembers the bad side.

1:26:46 > 1:26:50But I've never seen him committing a crime,

1:26:50 > 1:26:54or in a violent or volatile state.

1:26:56 > 1:26:59When his crimes were confessed to,

1:26:59 > 1:27:02he seemed to feel better and do better during those times

1:27:02 > 1:27:04than any other times I've known him.

1:27:04 > 1:27:06His parents would tell me he would do better at home,

1:27:06 > 1:27:09he seemed to get along better with the people in town,

1:27:09 > 1:27:10his neighbours and friends.

1:27:10 > 1:27:13But something happens to David, I don't know what it is.

1:27:13 > 1:27:16I don't know if anybody can put their finger on it.

1:27:20 > 1:27:24But there's no other indication of anything in the family

1:27:24 > 1:27:30that would lead you to believe he had exposure to these activities or anything.

1:27:35 > 1:27:38David's got at least one other brother and sister that I know of.

1:27:38 > 1:27:42And he had one brother that drowned numerous years ago.

1:27:48 > 1:27:50I was...three years old.

1:27:50 > 1:27:53I had a four-year-old brother

1:27:53 > 1:27:57and he drowned in 1963,

1:27:57 > 1:28:01right after President Kennedy was assassinated, I believe.

1:28:01 > 1:28:04Sometime right after that, during the summer.

1:28:04 > 1:28:08We was living in Beaumont, on Harrison Street,

1:28:08 > 1:28:11and my dad was working on his truck out in the yard

1:28:11 > 1:28:16and Mom was in the house doing her housework or fixing dinner.

1:28:16 > 1:28:20Me and my brother, we had one of these little blow-up pools

1:28:20 > 1:28:23and we were playing in that.

1:28:23 > 1:28:26My dad was supposed to be watching us

1:28:26 > 1:28:28or keeping an eye on us or something.

1:28:28 > 1:28:31My brother wandered off down the street

1:28:31 > 1:28:34and these people had a swimming pool in their backyard

1:28:34 > 1:28:37and they were elderly people. They never used the pool.

1:28:37 > 1:28:41I guess it had a bunch of leaves and stuff in it.

1:28:41 > 1:28:44And he evidently fell in there and drowned.

1:28:48 > 1:28:52I used to sit up in my room at night and talk to him and he wasn't there.

1:28:55 > 1:28:58So I guess that might have been

1:28:58 > 1:29:01some kind of a traumatic experience for me, at that age.

1:29:02 > 1:29:03I guess my dad...

1:29:05 > 1:29:07I don't know, maybe he couldn't...

1:29:07 > 1:29:11get rid of the responsibility or the guilt or something.

1:29:11 > 1:29:13I don't know what it was.

1:29:15 > 1:29:19I was there and I guess maybe I reminded him of that

1:29:19 > 1:29:20all the time, growing up.

1:29:21 > 1:29:25It was hard for me to get any acceptance from him.

1:29:25 > 1:29:28When my younger brother was born

1:29:28 > 1:29:33it was kind of like he was Daddy's favourite or something, I don't know.

1:29:35 > 1:29:38Everybody's life is going to take some kind of path,

1:29:38 > 1:29:40regardless of what happens.

1:29:42 > 1:29:46I think maybe that a lot of the things I did when I was younger

1:29:46 > 1:29:51was an attempt to get back at him or something,

1:29:51 > 1:29:54for the way he treated me.

1:29:54 > 1:29:57But I wasn't doing nothing but hurting myself.

1:33:49 > 1:33:52Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd

1:33:52 > 1:33:54Email subtitling@bbc.co.uk